In constructing a shingle roof or wall, it is conventional to position and secure the shingles in place one-by-one. To shorten the construction time, shingles are sometimes pre-assembled on a suitable backing strip to form a part of a single course. It has also been proposed to pre-assemble a panel containing several courses of shingles so that the installation time can be further reduced. However, it has been found that panels must be cut to accommodate walls of different heights and to permit accurate fitting around windows, doors and the like and, since the proposed panels do not permit cutting without considerable waste, they are not in general use at this time. The present invention concerns pre-assembled panels, and particularly features a panel that can be cut transversely at any one of a plurality of courses in such a way that the appearance and structural integrity of the unused part of the panel is unchanged and the heretofore discarded part of a panel can be used in the continued construction of the wall or roof.
This invention also features a unique panel construction that results in a panel which is strong enough to accommodate all normal loads without the backing of plywood sheathing or the like. Another feature of the invention is a novel method of making inconspicuous the joinder line between two side-by-side panels.
The patents to Watts U.S. Pat. No. 3,640,044, and to Kraus U.S. Pat. No. 2,384,686 disclose panels having more than one course assembled on a backing member. The patents to Martin et al., U.S. Pat. No. 3,844,082, to Barker U.S. Pat. No. 3,125,919, to Barker U.S. Pat. No. 2,934,110, to Barker U.S. Pat. No. 4,102,107, to Barker U.S. Pat. No. 4,050,209, and to Barker U.S. Pat. No. 2,965,531 disclose one-course panel strips, while the patents to Martin, U.S. Pat. No. 3,440,777 and to Becker, U.S. Pat. No. 2,268,636 concern devices for obscuring the joinder line between adjacent strips or panels.